Dennison Capen Group – Keller Williams

My husband and I were referred to Carol Hushman at the Dennison Capen Group by friends of ours who had moved to Portland a year prior. We were interested in looking at houses in different neighborhoods to see where felt best to us, as we were moving from California and were unfamiliar with the area and were interested in purchasing our first home in Portland.
We were in town for only 5 days, and with the exception of Day 1, Carol spent everyday with us, showing us every neighborhood, while also providing very helpful information about the neighborhoods. We felt like she understood us, was able to answer all of our questions and was responsive to our needs when looking for a house.
As it so happened, the process went much faster than we initially anticipated, and we ended up finding our house and moving within just a few short months, thanks to Carol! We felt like Carol had our best interests at heart and was not just looking for a commission. She was very knowledgable, helpful, warm and friendly. We had some things in common and I truly enjoyed her company! I would definitely recommend her services if you are interested in shopping for a home!

Timeframe: October — December 2015
Being a first-​time home-​buyer I had no idea who to pick. I asked a friend of mine and he sent me to Mortgage Lenders NW for a Mortgage Broker. I asked them how the process worked and they said to get a real estate agent and referred me to the Dennison Capen Group («DCG»). My first call in, I was assigned an agent, Megan Winnerling. Megan is amazing.
My wife an I are very logic minded, we knew what wanted, we knew our prices, and we already had a list of places we wanted to look at. We figured Megan would be pretty much useless to us, except to tell us property values. We were wrong. Every place on our list had some severe issues (one was next to a strip club, another had soft floors).
We exhausted our list and went through the system they have (it’s pretty awesome, if nothing else, ask about their listing system) until we had nothing left that met our criteria. At this point, Megan had done what I expected, she showed us houses, she smiled, she answered questions, easily a 3 – 4 star service. However, she decided to start tweaking our criteria to look at other possible options. She didn’t pressure us into looking at alternatives, in fact all we got was an email with a packet of options. We looked over them ourselves and about 60% of them were worth looking at. We are now in a place that, on paper, was far from what we had hoped for, but once we walked inside we fell in love with it.
Megan has a great personality, very peppy and upbeat. Both my wife and I really appreciated her demeanor throughout the entire process. She helped us negotiate the price and the terms, informed us about HOAs and even kept us up to date on things that were outside her scope (like timelines with the bank etc). She really goes above and beyond. I hope the DCG knows what an asset they have with Megan on their team. We’ll be recommending her to anyone we can find who needs an agent.

Jeff is a true professional. He is passionate about real estate and he works hard for his clients.
More importantly, he is in this business to build long term relationships. He does the right thing even if it doesn’t directly benefit him right now.
He freely shares information and wants all his clients to succeed.
Highly recommend !

Wow, what an amazing experience my family has had working with Jeff Capen and his team. He sold our family home in less than one week and went above and beyond to provide the most professional advice and customer service we’ve ever had. Jeff is incredibly knowledgeable about the Portland market. He was a speaker at a business event I attended and has a birds eye view of the marketplace and trends. He’s an EXCELLENT negotiator and thinks of all the details beforehand. He’s also very fun, easy going and simply nice to be around. Really a good guy that you can trust with your major investment, your home, and all as well as all of the emotions that come with selling your home. I would highly recommend Dennison Capen Group!

Well, it looks like I’m just adding another great review for the Dennison Capen Group, but I wanted to let everyone know that, not only do they provide great service to those they are doing business with, but they work hard to promote the «partner» companies they work with as well. Jeff gives my business, Westside Moving & Storage-​Mayflower, referrals week in and week out, and I always hear what a great job he does for his customers. Thanks Jeff… appreciate your support of my business as well!

Jeff and his team are extremely diligent in their work. They are very punctual and organized. They get things done on-​time and done well! I recommend Jeff, Arthur and Carol whenever I can! They are always willing to help with advice and recommendations!

Jeff and his team at the Dennison-​Capen Group are top-​notch! They have fantastic customer service and Jeff is an excellent resource for any of your real estate questions. Whether buying your first home or looking to purchase an investment property, they can help guide you throughout the entire process. I highly recommend the Dennison-​Capen Group!

I had Carol Hushman help me buy my first house. It was great to have somebody who could walk me through the whole process and teach me all the things that go along with buying and owning a home. After showing me a few great options, we found a house that couldnt be better and they made the whole purchase process smooth. I just had to sign a ton of papers with the title company and then I got my house.
That was in 2013 and then about a year later, Jeff Capen contacted me and offered to come and give me advice regarding improvements. He came over and spent a while telling me about all sorts of different changes and improvements I could make to get the most out of my investment for when I want to sell the house or rent it out.
I will definitely use them for any future real estate deals.

Jeff Capen and his team at Dennison Capen Group have been my ‘go to’ Realtors for many years. Having been a Realtor myself in the past, I like to think I have a good sense of what kind of service provider to seek in the industry… Jeff is a down-​to-​earth, hard-​working, and detail-​oriented person. He is an incredibly intelligent and resourceful professional with a friendly and caring disposition. I trust him with my business and enthusiastically refer everyone I know to him. Highly, highly recommended!

Jeff is very professional and ethical and was very effective in helping us prepare for placing our home on the market. He spent time making practical recommendations that proved to be very helpful when our house sold quickly. It was a very good experience. Jeff was able to move quickly when it was needed, but also took extra time to go over questions that we had. My wife and I were very satisfied with Jeff and his staff and we would rely on him if we needed to in the future. Thanks Jeff.

I have come to see Jeff Capen as the house whisperer, and the DCG group as a whole is top notch. Jeff has a great eye for where to spend your money and your effort getting your house ready for sale. Jeff is a wealth of knowledge on residential real estate issues generally, and was always happy to answer all of my many questions, even when they did not directly relate to our sale. When we were having some appraisal problems tying to get a HELOC on our primary, Jeff was happy to help me even though at the time we had no pending business. Kira is a knowledgeable and effective buyer’s agent. Jeff and Kira are also very good at hand-​holding when/​if you need it during your transaction. Particularly if you feel out of your element navigating a real estate transaction, the whole DCG team can guide you to your goals. The only thing I wish is that we had found DCG sooner. If we decide to buy or sell a house in the future, DCG would definitely be our first call.
My wife and I have used Dennison Capen Group as both buyers and sellers now. When we were first shopping for our new house, we had to part ways with our first buyers agent from another agency. Buying or selling a house is a big deal and you need someone you can trust to get the job done and look our for your interests. After asking around the neighborhood, we meet Jeff and Kira and decided to work with DCG as our agent.
We worked closely with Kira, who worked to understand our needs, even though we wanted to keep our options open. From the buying side, you need an agent that can get you quickly into houses that list so you can be aggressive if you find a place you really like, particularly if you are buying in a competitive area like inner Portland. We looked for month after month, and saw probably 40 houses or more with Kira. We finally found one we wanted to make an offer on. We really tried to negotiate with the seller who had overpriced the home, but alas, at the end of the day they were not willing to lower the price even though we were the only people who put in an offer. Kira was very helpful when navigating negotiations. We were getting pretty gloomy at this point.
Then, the house we live in now went up for sale. It was exactly the opposite of what we had told Kira we were looking for originally, but month after month of looking had changed our perspective. Kira moved aggressively and we were the first to see the house. With 6 offers, you are in a very difficult situation as a buyer. We were looking good until an all-​cash buyer came in. Kira did everything she could to come up with a way where we could compete with the cash offer, and worked closely with the sellers agent to understand what the issues were. Ultimately, we could not compete, and ended up in the backup position. We were pretty despondent, but Kira was very encouraging during this hard time. Ultimately the first buyer pulled out, and Kira helped us negotiate some repairs and now, we own the house! We got the house we always dreamed of owning but never thought we would be able to afford in Portland. It needs a lot of work, but it is ours now! Kira was quick to respond to our inquiries and return our calls. Kira is knowledgeable about bidding strategy and negotiations and can help get you into a house you really want. We highly recommend Kira as a buyer’s agent.
A few years later we sold our house we had been renting out. We decided to go with DCG again. Jeff met me at our house to take a look, and we talked about what we should do work wise to bring maximum offers in both amount and quantity. Jeff was quick to state what work he would recommend. Jeff has a lot of experience, and a great eye for this sort of thing. We put our faith in Jeff and started getting bids. Suzanne, DCG’s listing coordinator, was very helpful, setting up contractors and meeting some of them at the house for us to give access. We took over once we chose contractors, and drove projects to completion. Suzanne stepped in when we needed extra pressure on contractors to get the job done. We got everything staged, and the house looked absolutely fantastic when we listed. We talked about price and Jeff made his recommendations, but stressed that the final decision on what price to list at was ours. We ended up listing lower than what Jeff recommended because we were hoping to get a backup to reduce the risk of the sale taking longer and to give a bit more leverage in repair negotiations. We had two buyers that bid what Jeff had recommend we list for. We ended up getting 6.7% over list. The repair negotiations went fairly well, though there was a permit issue. Suzanne really was great here working with one of their preferred contractors to get the permit we needed to close. Suzanne was on top of it, and even when I got nervous, Suzanne was our advocate working behind the scenes, making sure we were driving to closing. We ended up closing without delays.

Words cannot describe how grateful I am to have been represented by Jeff Capen and his wonderful team — for both the purchase and sale of our Portland home.
5 years ago my wife and I were struggling to find an agent we connected with and trusted. We had interviewed multiple Realtors who either didn’t communicate well or didn’t seem to fully understand the market. We were experienced homeowners looking for a representative and trusted advisor who had our best interest in mind, but we were finding agents who thought they were ‘selling’ us a house and didn’t understand our needs.
We connected with Jeff right away. He understood our prior experience and tailored his approach accordingly. Instead of saying «This house has nice paint!» and «Look at these great knobs!» he was saying «At $ 220 per square foot this house is overpriced for the neighborhood.» or «A personal letter to the sellers and a larger earnest will make your offer stronger without increasing your actual costs.» We ended up buying a fixer in the Beaumont neighborhood, which was a fantastic decision from both a quality of life and financial perspective.
When recently selling this home, Jeff gave us great advice about pricing, maximizing our gains with a few additional updates, and his relationship management skills were extremely beneficial during the negotiation process. We made more than we thought we would, even adjusting for the strong seller’s market we were in.
Jeff’s team (Carol on the buying and Suzanne on the selling end) were great to work with as well. They were responsive and very capable in their own right, and they made the stressful buying and selling process much easier for us. If you are looking for a smart, knowledgeable Realtor who is an exceptional communicator and savvy negotiator and you want someone who puts your needs first and comes with a great team of responsive agents, then I suggest you give Jeff a call!

Real estate is tricky and there’s plenty of room for unscrupulous behavior in all transactions. When you are in escrow on a property everyone lies-​either a little or a lot-​just to keep the ball rolling and the deal going. So to work with someone like Jeff Capen who’s both competent and honest is such a relief, as the transaction fees in real estate are high, there’s always some risk involved.
Jeff’s strengths were getting me a good property (super competitive out there right now) and then a price reduction after the inspection process revealed a few problems. This saved me money.
I bought a duplex from him and a triplex. He walked me through how to maximize my return on the investment (no college fund for the kids, I’ll sell these to pay for college, as the appreciation will exceed what I can make in a college savings fund). Because I was totally ripped off a long time ago, I called him a lot and got answers to my questions. If he couldn’t’ help me, he’d send me to someone who could. Carol H. does a lot of the detail work with contracts, and she’s got a laser-​like focus on that.
I’ve done several real estate transactions and his group was by far the best. He doesn’t lie! Or fudge the truth just to keep something together! Whew, a breath of fresh air… Thorough, smart and at all levels-​honest. He does the deals and then his team handles a lot of the transaction paper-​work.
Because Jeff himself has had experience buying homes and investing in real estate, he’s got the experience on what to do and how to protect yourself whether you’re buying a home or rental property.

This was the first home purchase for my wife and I. Jeff took us under his wing, informed and educated us, but most of all, showed us care and protection in making sure not only that –we– were comfortable with our future home, but that –he– was comfortable we would be happy in our purchase: for the long-​term. Had this not been the case, we would almost assuredly have missed out on our actual dream home.
Jeff brought a great breadth & depth of knowledge of real estate, and perhaps even more importantly, personal experience, to our home search. He was able to precisely identify potential home issues we’d not considered. What’s more, Jeff has great relationships with local real estate agents, which proved indispensible in our ultimate home purchase. This latter feature of Jeff’s is a unique quality; one which can only be achieved through time and ethical consistency.
We found houses which were «good enough» for us, but none felt liveable for the long-​term. While we were willing to pursue some of these houses out of desperation, Jeff counseled us in showing patience. Ultimately, we found that house which, almost a year later now, we can still hardly believe we found. Jeff’s existing relationships in the business, along with his experience, proved invaluable — possibly necessary — in securing our dream home. I strongly question whether this would be the case if we’d gone with another agent.
Obviously, we would recommend (and have recommended) Jeff to anyone and everyone. Frankly, I’m not sure I would let any of my friends or family go elsewhere!

Worth every nickel!
Recently we sold our large house in SW Portland in order to downsize into something that is a better fit for just the two of us. I confess that I was reluctant to sign up for a full service realtor. «Such a lot of money!» I thought. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. The team @ the Capen Group were fantastic. Worth every nickel.
First, Jeff Capen and Carol Hushman were infinitely patient as we got out house ready for sale. We had to push back the «on the market» date three times! They had great advice on what needed to be done — and what we could skip.
Jeff’s strategy for the sale was brilliant. We got a great price in a very short amount of time. Showings started hours after the house was listed. We had 7 offers — all over asking price — after the first weekend!
Once the sale was negotiated, Suzanne Stevens was with us every step of the way as we got though all the inspections and repairs. I don’t know how many times I would have been in tears if not for Suzanne following up and figuring out and actually getting things done.
At the same time, Carol Hushman dedicated untold hours to helping us find just the right house to move into. She knows every neighborhood in Portland and all the right questions to ask. We were thrilled with her bargaining for our new house.
Moving is an exhausting and stressful experience. If you want the very best help you can get — Use the Capen Group.

We used the Dennison Capen Group to help us search for the right home in Portland. Throughout the entire process, Jeff & Kira were attentive, friendly, and professional. They asked a lot of great questions which helped us clarify what we wanted. We never felt rushed and we always felt as if our interests were put first. Ultimately, for personal reasons, we decided to rent rather than buy. We were impressed how understanding Jeff and Kira were of our decision. Based on our great experience with the Dennison Capen Group, we will certainly use their services again and recommend them highly to others.

My wife and I just bought our first house and Jeff and Carol were extremely helpful.
They were so super friendly and so on top of everything that it made the whole house buying process a breeze.